Venice

Posted on September 25, 2017 By Joe Hardenbrook

On our first day trip from Florence, we ventured off to enchanting Venice.

Chaperoning students can be a bit like herding cats, but by hook or by crook we all made it to the Firenze S.M.N. station in time to catch our train. And this is one of the (many) things I loved about Italy: high-speed train service. We were whisked away from Florence to Venice, going around 200km/hr. Travel time is around two hours.

Dropped off at Venice’s Santa Lucia train station, we walked along the Grand Canal and met up with our tour guide. He escorted us through the winding pedestrian streets and alleyways of Venice, stopping to tell stories of Venetian history.

Rialto Bridge, Venice

After making our way to the Rialto Bridge, we headed to Piazza San Marco. Here we toured St. Mark’s Basilica with it famous gold mosaics.

Piazza San Marco, Venice

Following the tour we had time to explore Venice independently. Even with a paper map and Google Maps on my phone, I kept getting lost…and I’m usually someone who is good with navigation. But I didn’t care. I was in Venice, and every corner I turned had something to see.

Venice

Feeling hungry, I ended up at the Grand Canal. After crossing the Rialto Bridge, I picked a restaurant. The food was OK–I had cuttlefish with squid ink spaghetti–but the view was marvelous and I knew that was really what I was paying for. I just sat for awhile taking it all in.

Grand Canal, Venice

After lunch, I explored (and got lost) in Venice some more, before making it back to the train station. All students accounted for, we boarded our train and made our way back to Florence.

Here are some pics from Venice: